learn to play the shakuhachi

when i was in hong kong, i was playing quite a bit of shakuhachi and getting pretty good at it. however, i was sort of sick of it being a two-piece shakuhachi, so i decided to superglue it together. the glue dried and it wouldnt fit together because of the glue residue. i looked up how to remove superglue and discovered that nail polish remover does the trick! so i soaked my shakuhachi in nail polish remover. from this, i learned that nail polish remover also melts pvc pipe. so my flute ended up as a puddle. i need to order another shakuhachi.

i bought a shakuhachi yuu a long time ago; probably about a year and a half. but i still can’t play it very well. im getting better; sometimes the progress is really exciting. its hard to find time to play it, especially living in these dorms. i want to be out at the beach, on a rock, listening to the crashing of the waves and slowly breathing into the shakuhachi. one of my goals for this school year is to learn to play the shakuhachi.

Slowly day by day I gain more accuracy with my breath. Its truly amazing how difficult just making a note can be. I can play mary had a little lamb and amazing grace – and its only been one week! Ahh.. simplicity =)

A question that music teachers always seem to throw at a new student is “Why are you on this path?”. Its a question I like to think long and hard about, and find it surprisingly unique for every instrument.

When I least expect it. I found a shakuhachi teacher =)

Putting this asside for now.

I have made my own shakuhachi from a pvc pipe, i found the instructions somewhere in the web.